As a student in Prof. Coffman’s New Media and Communication class I have been asked to write a blog on a subject of my choosing which I can relate beck to the class readings. I am no stranger to blogging, as I am a contributing writer for two online queer blogs in Chicago and work with a new media activist group. I racked my brain for a topic I would be comfortable writing about, sitting in my bedroom for about half an hour stressing out.
Then it hit me: I had just moved into a new apartment, and was using it as a method of beginning a new healthier phase in my life. Didn’t our reading from Ruskoff’s Program or be programmed: Ten commands for a digital age state that the internet was to be used for collaborative participation? Why not start writing about the trials and tribulations of trying to become an “adult” right before graduation? Share my experiences with new ways of trying to be healthy and responsible? Surely some funny stories could develop from that, as they’ve already begun to pop up since my roommates and I first got our keys two weeks ago.
Ruskoff’s introduction section bemoaned the use of the internet for mindless browsing and chatter, and the lack of deeper critical exploration of our humanity. Why not connect my class project with an exploration of what this house means to me (growing up, taking control of adulthood, facing my fears about being a “real person,” as I often say, as if I was only a partial adult in the rest of my college experience) with technology (asking the internet community for feedback on design projects, photographing design projects, using internet sources for learning how to do new things like make my own bread)?
Ruskoff connects the use of the internet and our everyday lives as inevitable but worthy of thought rather than blindly giving machines control of our daily tasks. This blog will serve, then as an attempt to integrate new media into my personal journey that began with moving into a new house, a new neighborhood, and a new frame of mind.
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